My truck is a death trap in the rain! Is yours?

[Hazieview]

I tell you what..... When it rains my truck is an absolute death trap on the road. I'm sliding everywhere. . It's all I can do to keep it on the road. I was hoping i could make an every day driver out of it but now it seems I can't drive it unless I check the weather. I'm running some wide 50s on all 4 wheels so maybe that's part of my problem


Anyone else have the same problem? What did you do to prevent it?


Thanks

[89 crew]

Change tires. I had that problem on a 76 c20. I couldn't take off from a stop light without the truck moving at least a foot side ways! When you are in traffic, that can make you a bit nervous! Driving down the road it was almost as bad. Your problem is hydroplaning. Change tires to something that can handle the water and your problems are solved. Think of the grooves in the tread as pipes. the bigger the groove the more water it can flow. If the water has no way to escape being under the tire you have no way to avoid hydroplaning.

[Hazieview]

well now I feel like a retard haha. That makes perfect since. You know I just never really thought of it like that... The whole tread as pipes and all. Thanks man!

[89 crew]

No problem man! It does tend to scare the $hit out of ya when they take off that way doesn't it? I learned my lesson in the spring of 89, and I won't soon forget it! Put some tires on that can pump the water away, and it will be just as good on water as it is off.

[D-Day]

My truck can do 85mph in the rain on curvy mountain highways just fine.

[Mickey_D]

Yup, tires make all the difference. You don't necessarily have to give up your 50 series meats, either. If you can afford it, get some Cooper Weathermaster SXT's. Oh, wait. You're in Texas, you don't have to worry about 6 months of snow and ice like I do. Don't get the Weathermasters. They'll wear out too quick (soft rubber compound). Eagle GT's are horrible in the rain (in my experience). Too hard a rubber compound and large tread blocks make for very poor water dispersion. I'm rather partial to Coopers as I've always had good experiences with them. The wife's Neon has ALWAYS had Coopers on it and she gets around all year with it when I'm having trouble in 4WD in the truck.

Any good quality all season M&S tire will handle rain quite well. The ones that have the "performance" tread pattern on them are EXCELLENT in rain. You know, the ones that have the progressive "V" tread pattern and are directional tread? They also are very quiet on dry pavement and give outstanding cornering.

I've got a used set of some off brand tire on the back of mine that only have about 25% tread left and I don't have any problem in rain or snow. Mind you, they are 235/75/15's, so I cut through a lot of what you'd float over...

[Rob73-87]

And don`t forget to check your suspension components, - especially the shocks are very important. The best tire in the world won`t do a good job with worn out shocks ....

[old Rusty C10]

if you have a heavy duty rear spring you may wanna put some weight in the back to give you more stability too but the way this reads im betting its the tires too

[Malo83]

Sounds like you need to buy a lighter right shoe or put an egg under the gas pedal i'm running a 275/50/15 tire on all 4 corners also and have not had any problems even at speeds of 70mph on the highway on a rainy day, I wouldn't blame the tires unless they are really worn with no tread left

[Hazieview]

Well the tires on the back are very VERY hard and old. Could that be my problem?

[Mickey_D]

In a word, YES.

[84 400]

sounds like tires to me.

All these trucks are death traps with the gas tanks outside of the frame rails.

[zombiescustoms]

I just put on 285/50s on all 4 corners and my burban handles and drives better now than it did with stock size tires, and it has been raining here for the last 3 days!!

get som new tires and you will be good to go in the rain.

[Old Rust Bucket]

Tires are the most overlooked part of any vehicle.

I've never had anyproblem with hydro plaining. I ran Regal Trailblazer A/Ts and Chapperal A/Ps and always got where I wanted to be. I did learn that 3.08 gears are so high geared and worthless in the snow.

[Pyrotechnic]

3.08's are awful in slippery condition from a dead stop.

[89 crew]

Originally Posted by Old Rust Bucket

Tires are the most overlooked part of any vehicle.

I've never had anyproblem with hydro plaining. I ran Regal Trailblazer A/Ts and Chapperal A/Ps and always got where I wanted to be. I did learn that 3.08 gears are so high geared and worthless in the snow.

If you want to have a problem with hydroplaning try a set of Goodyear workhorse tires on your truck! They were new tires I still couldn't get traction on wet pavement. The new radial workhorses are a little better, but the old biased ones were horrible!

[Old Rust Bucket]

Originally Posted by 89 crew

If you want to have a problem with hydroplaning try a set of Goodyear workhorse tires on your truck! They were new tires I still couldn't get traction on wet pavement. The new radial workhorses are a little better, but the old biased ones were horrible!

Hey thanks man you just answered a question I had tonight.

[PhilaTruck]

Originally Posted by Pyrotechnic

3.08's are awful in slippery condition from a dead stop.

I thought the taller the gear, the less likely to spin, the higher the top speed or lower the RPM at 65 mph.

In other words, my 2.73s get me off the line slower, making me less likely to spin out, but give me a top speed of, um, infinity. (Might as well be with the OD tranny.) I haven't seen anything taller than 2.73s.

That would make the 3.08 a relatively slow gear, based on a stock tire height and compared to the 3.73s and 4.11s.

[Old Rust Bucket]

The 3.08 are geared high and as such have a tendency to spin out becuase of the higher speed. lower gears (like 3.55) are geared slower and there fore are less likely to start to spin at take off. The lower gears are more controlable in regards to speed. Once you start to spin your screwed.

[Mickey_D]

Heh, guess that's why my truck is so easy to get going. I've got the 5.56's (or is it 5.65?).

Yes, I'm practically redlining at 80mph...

[Pyrotechnic]

The thing is, numerically low gears with an automatic present such a load to the torque converter, that if you aren't careful with the gas, the torque multiplication happens faster than you can react to, and the rear tires break loose.

With numerically high gears, the torque multiplication happens more at the rear gears and the torque converter doesn't flash up as high and produce torque that the rear tires can't handle.

[spudz]

Originally Posted by Mickey_D

Heh, guess that's why my truck is so easy to get going. I've got the 5.56's (or is it 5.65?).

Yes, I'm practically redlining at 80mph...

Sounds like you got 4:56s.....

[Hazieview]

Wow this got way too technical... I have a slip differential with .308 gears with old hard wide tires on the back. I just know it sucks when it rains.


So I guess I'll just get some new tires....